Main navigation

GW Premiere-Must We Call Them Rad Trads

New York City-based, blues rockers, The Rad Trads, announce their brand new LP, Must We Call Them Rad Trads, slated for release on May 13, 2016. The forthcoming project features first single, “Keith Richards & I,” which received praise from Paste Magazine, stating, “The song paints a playfully vivid picture of a band that views the “rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle” as a perpetual stream of wild nights and debauchery.” The album is the band’s debut on independent label, Dala Records, and is produced by label founder, Billy Aukstik, who has made his way in the music industry performing with Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaries. It was recorded in Harlem on an 8-track tape recorder and blends the band’s well-known juxtaposition of old school and new.

Check out the album premiere here:

The Rad Trads are made up of Alden Harris-McCoy (vocals & guitar), John Fatum (vocals and percussion) Michael Fatum (Trumpet), Michael Harlen (vocals & bass), Patrick Sargent (saxophone) and Sam Crittenden (trombone). The group of men came together as close friends with a brotherly bond, after most of the band met while studying Jazz at NYU. They played their inaugural performance at the grand opening of the Uniqlo store in Herald Square. Always the last to close down a bar, they cite influences ranging from The E Street band, Joe Cocker and The Beatles.

Members of The Rad Trads have performed alongside Lee Fields & The Expressions, Deer Tick, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Red Baraat, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Jon Batiste & Stay Human and more. Collectively, they are set to hit the road on a European tour this February with shows in Switzerland and Italy. In addition, their first Asian performance at the 2016 Borneo Jazz festival in May. Stay tuned for more from the Rad Trads and their upcoming LP.